Adderbury Village Morris performed The Story of The Dancer at Preston on Stour Village Hall on 10th December to mark International Human Rights  Day. Thanks to all at Preston on Stour for inviting us to perform this unique piece of folk storytelling with Morris Dancing.

It tells the story of a Morris dancer who survived the trenches of WW1 and was present at the 1914 Christmas Truce, when singing briefly stopped the war. The story was punctuated by our dances…Happy Man, Constant Billy, Shepherds Hey, Shooting, Princess Royal, Postman’s Knock, Staunton Wake and Brighton Camp.

Communal singing of carols in German, English and Latin reflected the sequence of songs of Christmas Day in the trenches in 1914. The story continues to show how cultures and peoples have much in common in spite of the divisions of war. It also shows how The Morris tradition was revived in the 1970s and still flourishes to this day.

After a short break for mince pies there was an interesting Q and A session and a communal Shepherds Hey.

May the singing and dancing go ever on.

Donald